It was a battle that left a mark on Connecticut’s psyche. The World War I Battle of Seicheprey was one of the first American engagements of the war, and saw over 70 Connecticut soldiers killed, about 450 wounded and about 150 taken prisoner, said Christine Pittsley, project director for the Remembering World War One Community Archiving Project.

“There were many men from New Britain killed that morning. There were Italians killed, Polish killed, there were all sorts of really brave men killed that morning,” Pittsley said. She said men from Bristol and New Haven were sent to the trenches, without reinforcements, when the Germans began an attack on the French town at 3 a.m.